Speaking Of Reliability: Friends Discussing Reliability Engineering Topics | Warranty | Plant Maintenance

Reliability Engineering Books

May 26, 2025

Dive into the world of reliability engineering literature as Chris and Fred discuss how to effectively rank these books based on their practical usefulness. They critique the flaws in Google and Amazon rankings, revealing how oversimplified texts can mislead readers. Discover the gaps in prominent resources like Fault Tree Analysis textbooks that focus on algorithms but overlook real-world applications. The conversation also touches on the value of conferences and actionable insights, urging a problem-centric approach to reading in the field.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Books

Transcript

Episode notes

INSIGHT

Limitations of Amazon Rankings

Amazon rankings for reliability books fluctuate drastically due to low sales volumes.
Popularity may reflect simple teaching of incorrect concepts rather than true usefulness.

ANECDOTE

Balance Analytics with Judgment

Joe Madden said organizations often focus too much on either analytics or gut feeling.
Winning comes from mixing data insights with human judgment in decision-making.

ADVICE

Choose FMEA Books by Need

Use concise books like McDermott's Basics of FMEA to quickly align teams on terminology.
Larger comprehensive books like Effective FMEAs offer deep knowledge but require more commitment.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app

Reliability Engineering Books

Abstract

Chris and Fred discuss talk about how to ‘rank’ reliability engineering books that are actually based on helpfulness (and perhaps not an algorithm).

Key Points

Join Chris and Fred as they discuss the different reliability engineering books and how they ‘rank’ regarding their usefulness for reliability engineering.

Topics include:

What’s ‘wrong’ with Google and Amazon rankings? A couple of things. First is that reliability engineering books don’t sell hundreds of units a week (surprise!) So, a couple of sales here and there can change rankings markedly. The second is that some of the books teach oversimplified and incorrect topics very well. So, readers rank the book highly because it explains the wrong concepts very well.
Many ‘staples’ are very theoretical. For example, a very well-known ‘Fault Tree Analysis’ textbook goes into great detail about how to implement algorithms to solve the equations that Fault Trees help create to describe system reliability models. But there is nothing in there about using Fault Trees for Root Cause Analysis. The book is highly rated, regardless, no doubt because those readers were interested in the algorithm. But it misses a big piece that means it is not complete.
Algorithms can be manipulated … It is not unusual for academics to break down one paper into three, where each paper now conveys less information. Why? To increase the algorithm ranking for the author who has now published lots more papers. The same can apply to books … particularly for those written by professors for their own courses …
It is up to you. The book is as good as you rank it. So see what the book is about, relate it to your problem or scenario, and then make a decision.

Enjoy an episode of Speaking of Reliability. Where you can join friends as they discuss reliability topics. Join us as we discuss topics ranging from design for reliability techniques to field data analysis approaches.

Download Audio RSS

Show Notes

The post SOR 1073 Reliability Engineering Books appeared first on Accendo Reliability.